An inspector calls By J.B Priestley.

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Introduction

English coursework- an inspector calls By J.B Priestley An "inspector calls" was written by J.B Priestly. It was first performed in Moscow in the summer of 1945. The play is about a family who are in the "New rich" category of the ladder of wealth in 1912. This was a sort of rank, which families were in depending on how rich someone or some people were. At the bottom was Working class, which were miners, servants & factory workers. Then came the Upper Working class, which were foremen in factory's, which had some responsibility. The New Rich were men or families which weren't always rich or they weren't born rich (mainly people who earned the money from the industrial revolution) this is the category which the Birlings were in (the family I'm writing about) Finally at the top of the table was the Aristocracy people, these were people who were wealthy with land or business or either they were born into the family when it was rich. The Birlings in this story are celebrating because the daughter of Arthur Birling (Sheila Birling) is getting engaged to a man called Gerald Croft who is very wealthy because his family is in the Aristocratic part of the ladder of wealth. An inspector called "GOOLE" calls in the middle of the celebration and explains that he is investigating a suicide of a young working class woman. He interrogates each person in the birling household until they admit they had in someway being in contact with the young woman before she committed suicide. By doing this Priestley is giving society the message that anyone can do something that could lead to something serious as what happens in this story. ...read more.

Middle

By doing this he is trying to intimidate the inspector by the superior position Mr Birling is in. When the inspector questions Mr Birling told the inspector that he was standing up for himself when the woman in the workplace were trying to get more pay. I think this was because Mr Birling was starting to become more nervous because he believes the inspector is right about him being partly responsible for Eva Smith's death & because of this Mr Birling is trying to think up excuses. When Mr Birling find's out about Gerald, he was supposed to be seeing Eva Smith in the summer before, he quickly tells Sheila that Gerald didn't know what he was doing. He was saying this because he didn't want the marriage between Sheila and Gerald to be called off because of how much the wedding is worth to him and his status in the Wealth Ladder. When he finds out about Eric & how he got Eva pregnant, he doesn't care about Eric; he only cares about covering up the scandal of his son & how he stole money from him. E.G " You must give me a list of those accounts. I've got to cover this up as soon as I can" This shows Mr Birling is insensitive and only cares about himself and his status in society. When Mr Birling finds out about the inspector Goole being a fake he is relieved because he won't be in the papers & lose he reputation. Instead of realizing that what everyone did, happened. Mr Birling continues to be self-centred man and only cares about himself. ...read more.

Conclusion

She tries to scare the inspector by mentioning that he was mayor. She only cars about herself & the people in the class she is in. She tries to shift the blame so it doesn't look bad on her reputation. Sheila tries to warn her but Mrs Birling is blind as a bat & she doesn't see the fact that the father of Eva Smith's baby is Eric Birling. When she finds this out her character changes dramatically from a snob to a nervous wreck. Eric starts to shout at her and she can't take it any more. When the inspector leaves & Mrs birling recovers, she suddenly forgets about her reactions, and she starts the inspector of being rude and ill mannered. She is like her husband, devious & wanting to sweep everything under the mat. She has learned nothing from this experience. Looking at the characters that change, the pattern shows that children are vulnerable & are easily changeable in attitude. Perhaps Priestley is suggesting that the older you are, the more you can fake in accusations. Mr Birling didn't change because he is a superior man. The characters that learn their lesson aren't affected by Priestley "twist" in the play at the end because they have learned their lesson and know everyone has something wrong in their lives. "We are all one body" is Priestley's social message & I think that he is successful in demonstrating it because if the Birling family stuck together. They would've overcome the inspector. Except they all went their own just like everybody in that era. Goole's/Priestley's message of the body is relevant today because from the two World Wars, society has learned everyone has to help everyone in need. If we don't we'll end up like other countries in wars now because they can't help each other and agree on certain things. ...read more.

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